


Starburst

by Ladymordecai



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 12:24:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8890669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladymordecai/pseuds/Ladymordecai
Summary: The Kingdom Abrasax's Great Queen has died, leaving her throne to her three children--unless an educated maiden with the royal birthmark can be found before the coronation.Jupiter just wants to work and keep her head down and scrape together enough money to buy a star chart.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hillcreature](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hillcreature/gifts).



Once Upon A Time, the greatest and most powerful queen the Kingdom of Abrasax had ever seen passed away, splitting the rule of Kingdom Abrasax among her three children--

\--unless, before their coronation, an educated maiden with the royal birthmark could be found. For the Great Queen's three children all lacked this sign of their divine right to rule. If any maiden in the kingdom possessed such a mark, she would inherit the throne and all the Great Queen's power, by the will of the gods.

Needless to say, all three children raced into action, ostensibly to find the Great Queen's destined heir and put their rightful ruler on the throne. Also needless to say, each of them had their own agenda, for none wished to share the throne, or worse yet, be under the power of a commoner.

Prince Balem, the first child, was cold, haughty, and ruthless. Power over all of his dominion was his one great wish, and he would stop at nothing--not even murder--to get it.

Princess Kalique, the second child and the Great Queen's only daughter, possessed a golden face and a silver tongue, and was welcome at every court and manor in the land. She, too, wished for the throne.

Prince Titus, the third child, was as well-known for his misbehavior as Kalique for her beauty and Balem for his ruthlessness. He felt neglected and betrayed, as if the world owed him, and lusted for the throne as well.

Out into Kingdom Abrasax each sent their emissaries, to work their will upon whatever--or whoever--they found.

 

The household was a-twitter around Jupiter, maids and stableboys and even the cook gossiping about the Great Coronation Ball. In three days' time, when the requisite year of mourning ended, the princes and princess would be crowned kings and queen. It was hoped, of course, that one of their children would bear the royal birthmark, but until then, most of the servants thought it utterly romantic that their kingdom would be headed by three such rulers.

Jupiter scrubbed all the harder, trying to dash through cleaning the privies, a foul task which she hated, but which fell on her as junior-most servant in the household. Her uncle was steward in the great manor, and took in Jupiter and her mother after Jupiter's father died. He had been an astrologer, and loved the stars, but died before he could teach Jupiter his craft. She could not hope for a book, but a star chart would be a great remembrance, and would feed Jupiter's own longing to think of worlds outside this place.

Jupiter had traded for all the worst jobs in the manor, like privy-scrubbing and lye-boiling for laundry day, to the kitchen maids, in exchange for the ashes from the hearth. A manor of this size, with a fire in every occupied room and more in the kitchen, produced more ash than it could ever use to make soap--not to mention that the family would never allow their linens to be washed in harsh potash. Only the lowest classes used the coarse, black soap. But the washer-women in town, who served the general populous, always needed potash, and would pay for it. Not much, but enough that Jupiter kept her coin purse hidden from her uncle and cousins.

Late that evening, after her chores were done, Jupiter slipped away from the manor. Her hands cracked and blistered from scrubbing, and the inside of her nose burned, but she breathed in the chill night air and smiled. She'd reach the laundress's before moonrise, and she'd have the last bit of coin needed for a star chart.

If the trader whose cart she'd seen it in still had it when he returned . . .

Hoofbeats sounded on the road behind her. At first she paid them no mind. Kingdom Abrasax under the Great Queen was a safe kingdom, safe enough for servants to walk out at night and couriers to ride without fear.

Then she frowned. The hoofbeats didn't sound--quite--right. They were out of sync. Did the horse have a limp?

Jupiter glanced over her shoulder to check.

Then she stuttered to a stop in shock.

A pair of satyrs clopped on the road behind her, hoofs casting up dirt as they struck, whispering to each other.

Just. Walking down the road. Like normal people.

Not at all like mythical creatures that shouldn't exist.

Which they clearly did.

As the two satyrs approached, Jupiter swallowed, feeling her face go red when she realized she was staring. "Uh. Hi?" she offered, giving the satyrs and awkward wave, her sleeve slipping down her arm.

One of the satyrs nudged the other with his elbow, pointing right at her. The other followed his line of sight and stopped.

Jupiter backed up a step, wariness overcoming her shock at seeing magical creatures. "Um. You guys might not know, but pointing's kinda rude in human culture."

The second satyr leered at her, said "Not as rude as we're going to be," and lunged.

 

Jupiter woke up in the back of a cart, wooden wheels bumping and shaking every time they hit a rock or depression in the road. Her head ached like--well, like a pair of satyrs chased her into the forest, up a tree, and headbutted the tree until she fell out and hit her head. Which was exactly what happened. For no discernable reason.

Her hands flew to her coin purse, hidden in her skirts beneath her belt. Still there.

Sighing in relief, Jupiter started to search her bouncing prison. Wooden sides, woven roof, and two doors at the back with no handles on the inside. Jupiter pounded and kicked them, but the lock held.

So Jupiter held her peace, trying not to wince every time the cart jolted, and waited. More hours later than she cared to count--the close confines of the cart were getting warm, even in the mild fall weather--the cart trundled to a stop. Hoofs clopped on a stone floor outside the cart, two pairs coming around to the back. Jupiter tensed.

As soon as she heard the lock disengage, she kicked the doors open, smashing one of the satyrs in the face. Jumping out the back (and staggering a few steps as her head protested being upright), Jupiter picked a likely direction and ran.

As she bolted through an open doorway and into a wide courtyard surrounded by windows with stained glass, Jupiter began to suspect she hadn't been taken to another manor house, or even a castle. Charging back out of the courtyard and into an outer hallway, Jupiter jumped up a carved stone staircase and out onto a huge balcony that appeared to ring the entire building. Forest and farmland stretched before her, up to the mountains that lurked at the edge of the horizon.

Stunned, Jupiter steadied herself on the flawless balustrade, smooth marble that warmed under her hand.

Palace. This was definitely a palace.

Then she heard hoofs clattering up the staircase behind her, and not alone--human footsteps and a few other, strangers noises accompanied the satyr. Jupiter broke into a run again, hiking up her skirts and wishing her shoe leather wasn't quite so worn. She didn't know where she would go, but she couldn't stay here.

Jupiter skidded around a corner, feet slipping in her shoes, and squawked as she nearly ran over an elegant woman dressed in clothes she couldn't buy a square of fabric from, not if she sold ashes for her entire life.

Flailing and spinning, Jupiter managed to go around instead of over the noblewoman. Instead of shrieking herself, the noblewoman reached out to steady her.

The posse behind her turned the corner, and Jupiter made to run again.

"What is going on?" the noblewoman asked. She didn't--quite--raise her voice. She gave every impression that she would never need to raise her voice. She wasn't even demanding an explanaion. It seemed to be, totally out of character with every noble Jupiter'd ever met, an honest request for information.

The satyr stamped his hoof a few times, and then said, "This is the girl you asked for, Your Highness."

Highness?

The noblewoman turned back to Jupiter with what seemed like an honestly pleased expression. "Oh! I'm so glad to meet you. We've been looking for you, you see. May I see it?"

Out of breath, and as glad to be resting as she was confused, Jupiter shook her head. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what's going on here."

 

Things happened very quickly after that. Her Highness, Princess Kalique, scolded her guardsmen for bringing in Jupiter so roughly, and brought her to her own ladies to be cleaned, dressed, and coiffed. Along the way, she explained that they were terribly lucky to have found her with only two days to go before the Great Coronation Ball.

Princess Kalique and her ladies subjected Jupiter to a bewildering array of potions, fabrics, measurement, and information. When Jupiter explained that the satyrs came after her after she waved, Princess Kalique asked her to hold up her hand, just as she had. When she did, revealing the birthmark on the inside of her wrist, a smug smiled passed over the princess's face before she schooled it back into a pleased expression.

"The four-pointed starburst has always been the birthmark of royalty," she told Jupiter. "It means that, in two days' time, the Great Ball will be in honor of your coronation." 

At that point, Jupiter nearly passed out again. Then she began protesting. She knew nothing about ruling anything, except maybe the palace privies, had never spent so long in the presence of nobility, much less royalty, as she had today, she had family, her mother, back home.

Princess Kalique could not be swayed, and somehow Jupiter found herself agreeing to the princess's plan to debut her at the Great Coronation Ball. The princess assured her that Jupiter would not be left for the scavengers, but supported by Kalique and her staff.

Which is when the princess introduced her to her bodyguard.

"Guardsman Caine, formerly of the Aegis Corps," Princess Kalique waved a careless hand and a blond man with pointed ears stepped away from the wall. Jupiter startled. Despite his black guardsman uniform contrasting with the light marble walls, she hadn't noticed him. "Oh, don't be afraid. Werewolves are only dangerous to people they don't like."

Guardsman Caine stepped forward, bowing his head. Jupiter noticed that he wobbled a little, as if compensating for a weight he no longer carried. "I am yours, Your Majesty."

When he looked up, Jupiter met his eyes and sucked in a quick breath. Pain and heartache, a quiet perseverance, and--and loyalty. So fast. Just because of who she was: his rightful queen. 

"Hmm." Princess Kalique eyed the guardsman, but didn't correct his address.

 

If possible, the whirlwind of preparations sped up even faster at that point. Princess Kalique insisted Jupiter and Caine go ahead with a retinue of her own people and Aegis Corps soldiers, and she would meet them in the capital.

"Wouldn't do for the queen to be late to her own coronation," the princess laughed.

Coiffed and gowned and scrubbed, Jupiter felt as though a layer of skin had been scoured away; both lighter than she'd ever been and stifled as she'd never imagined. She could work in skirts. The gown--the first of many--she could barely walk in. Guardsman Caine had handed her up into the carriage, his hands on her arm and at the small of her back the only reason she didn't ignominiously fall backward like a beetle. She also went red again, but as the day passed and she and the guardsman spoke through the window of her carriage, she became accustomed to that.

The coachman and the Aegis Corps soldier mostly ignored her. The coachman was in Princess Kalique's employ, of course, and the Aegis Corps belonged only to the Crown--which she wasn't, yet. But Guardsman Caine was there for her.

In his past life in the Aegis Corps, and in his work as a Guardsman for the royal family, Caine had seen much of the world. Not just Kingdom Abrasax, but other lands as well, even into the mountains of fell Orus. Jupiter talked about the stars, her other thumb rubbing gently on her sleeve over the starbust mark. When she asked about his family, Caine's voice quieted. He was a wolf without a pack, disgraced and tossed from the Aegis Corps.

In trade, sorry for disturbing bad memories, Jupiter spoke of her mother and father. She also did speak briefly of her position, that she really was among the lowest of the low, a fatherless scullery maid with no ambition and no prospects.

Caine nodded to her wrist. "Perhaps because you have been destined for one place since birth." Jupiter's hand tightened around her mark. On the one hand, Caine's unwavering belief in her was flattering and inspired confidence. On the other, she felt he was building a castle out of foam, and she desperately didn't want to watch him see it tumble down.

 

The bandits came out of nowhere. Without a sound they descended on the small caravan, arrows flying and swords clanging as they engaged the Aegis soldiers. Caine wheeled his horse with consummate skill, blocking all attacks from reaching Jupiter's carriage. Jupiter watched through the door slat, using the sides of the carriage as protection.

Then with a shriek of twisting wood, the carriage's other door ripped loose. Jupiter yelled for Caine, but he couldn't move, pinned down in front of her by two swordsmen.

Standing in the jagged hole where the door used to be, backlit by the setting sun, a female satyr planted her hoofs on the carriage floor, twin horns poking out of curly hair. She cackled and tossed a handful of sparkling dust at Jupiter. As soon as it touched her, Jupiter's eyes began to shut.

She could really get to dislike that whole species.

 

When she woke up, someone had changed her clothes. Despite all the other weirdness, and the terrifying concept of being queen, this was the thing that disturbed her most.

"How is your head?"

"Whoa!" Jupiter sat up, her head miraculously headache-free for the first time since her kidna--her first kidnapping. "What's going--"

"So sorry for the manner of your arrival. I needed to make sure Balem couldn't interfere, and Kalique has never taken him seriously enough."

Sitting on a plush chair a few feet away was a man in a gorgeous red brocade coat, with embroidery down the front and on the sleeves that must have cost a fortune, and taken a master seamstress hundreds of hours to complete. The satyr who'd torn apart her carriage and drugged her with magic fairy dust stood behind him, a coy half smile on her face.

"What happened?" Jupiter demanded. "What about Caine? And the other people with me?"

"They're fine," the man reassured her. "Once you were with us, we left them on the road. That bodyguard of yours put up a fight, but he's fine. Right?"

"Fine," repeated the satyr.

The man stood, beginning to pace elegantly around the sitting room. "As you may have ascertained, I am Prince Titus. While I love my sister, Kalique can be overly optimistic. Under better circumstances, I would introduce this to you gently, but with the Great Coronation Ball tonight--"

"Tonight! How long did that knock me out for?" Jupiter glared at the satyr, who shrugged.

Prince Titus shrugged and gave her a sheepish smile. "We may have . . . miscalculated, somewhat. Nevertheless, time is of the essence. My brother, Prince Balem, plans to seize all of the nobility's lands, and force them to pay him for the return of their lands and titles. He will grow fat off the profits, and we both know the nobles won't suffer--no, they'll pass that down to their servants and serfs."

Jupiter gulped. She's always heard the Great Queen's first son was ruthless, but she'd never imagined he would target his own people. "Why?"

"For funds to raise an army," Titus replied grimly. "To attack Orus. Right now, Kingdom Abrasax depends on Orus for coal, metals and precious stones. Balem wants those resources, and he'll go through two kingdoms to get it."

Having been a servant her whole life, Jupiter had a terrifying picture of how such a war would go. She also had no doubt that so powerful a man as a prince could hunger for more, and more. She'd seen it in the family she worked for. They fought and strived and did outrageous things just to showoff and one-up the neighboring landholders.

"What does this have to do with me?"

Prince Titus pointed to her wrist. "That. That says Balem cannot have this kingdom, let alone a second. He wants you dead. I want to stop him, but I need your help."

Jupiter took a deep breath. The last few days had been insane, confusing, and eye-opening. The whole wide world existed beneath the stars, and if she could help save that world, save people like her and her family from the suffering Prince Balem would inflict, she would do whatever was needed.

"How can I help?"

"Marry me."

 

Caine paced the palace dungeon, only floors away from Jupiter but a world apart. Titus wanted no interference with his plans. Caine had other ideas.

"You're planning something, wolf." In the cell across from his, the Aegis band's leader, Diomika Tsing, leaned against the bars watching him. "If you need us, we can help. She is Her Majesty, coronation or not."

Caine breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, she was. From the moment he saw her, looked into her eyes, knew who she was--he was lost. She was alpha, pack leader. She spoke to him like a partner, but he couldn't let her choose such a one as him. He would be hers, behind her to hell and back.

He looked up at Captain Tsing and nodded.

Closing his eyes, he reached deep into himself, to the guttering fire he hadn't touched since he lost his wings. He would be hers. He _was_ hers. For her, he could do this.

The Change happened as swiftly as easily as it always had, though his shoulders ached and his back arched, bracing for a flight that would never happen again. He opened his eyes to a blue, yellow, and brown world, shot through with grays.

Caine padded over to the hinges of his cell. Stupid to keep them on the inside, but they were rusted near-solid and no human, or human-form werewolf, could budge them.

A judicious application of claws and teeth later, Caine shoved his shoulder against the iron again and again, ignoring the screeching sound as the iron dragged across the floor. Once he had enough room, he slipped out of his cage.

The other Aegis soldiers backed away as he approached their cell, but Captain Tsing just stepped aside to let him work. The lock was, ironically, easier to break than the hinges, since the lock was meant to come apart.

Boots were pounding down the stairs into the dungeon when Captain Tsing led her soldiers from their prison. She surveyed them all, and said, "We find Her Majesty, and we protect her. From anyone. Questions?"

When she got no reply, she nodded. "We'll dispatch the guards. Caine, I think you have the best chance of tracking her.

Caine sneezed and nodded. He waited in the shadows until the Aegis engaged the corrupted guards, then slipped away from the skirmish, determined to win the war.

 

Jupiter felt every eye in the room on her, and no wonder. Prince Titus had just announced not only her identity to what looked like every single noble in all of Kingdom Abrasax, but also added that her coronation would be immediately followed by their wedding, "to unite the past and future rulers of our fair kingdom."

Not to mention she was wearing an incredible (and incredibly unweildy) white gown covered in real roses, enchanted to remain fresh. Her head was bare other than the elaborate styling, waiting for the silver crown that sat on an alter at the head of the room.

Prince Balem was nowhere to be seen.

Trembling with nerves, Jupiter approached the alter. A dedicate from the temple of the gods stood behind the all-consuming crown.

The dedicate stated her vows and duties, and Jupiter repeated them, swearing to protect and serve her people, to rule with a merciful and just hand. The dedicate took up the crown and walked around the alter. They stopped in front of her and raised their eyebrows. When she frowned in confusion, they twirled one finger.

"Oh!" Jupiter turned, careful of her train, to face the sea of expectant faces. The dedicate's voice rang through the great hall, declaring her Queen Jupiter Abrasax, may she reign long and well.

As the people cheered, Titus stepped up next to her. "Ready for the next bit?" he asked, giving her a rueful half-smile. Jupiter gulped but nodded. The two turned to the dedicate, who held the rings ready in their hand.

The sound of applause covered the snarls and shouts of the approaching calamity. Just as the dedicate raised their hands, calling for quiet, a side door of the great hall burst open and a whirling dervish of paws and swords rolled through the door.

"Jupiter!" Titus grabbed her arm, hard, and pulled her back behind the alter, away from the fight.

A great growl ripped through the air and a huge gray and black wolf body-slammed two different guards at the same time, sending them to their knees. The wolf's harsh pants echoed in the hall, and its teeth glittered in the light.

"Get that mutt out of here!" Titus ordered. His grip on her arm tightened.

"Titus, let me go! What's going--"

The huge wolf loped up the steps to the alter. No one left standing was brave enough to face the beast. Jupiter held her breath.

Then the wolf stopped and--and _bowed_. One front paw on the ground, the other tucked neatly beneath its body, long muzzle turned aside to allow its head to touch the floor. When it looked up at her from the bow, she knew.

"Caine!" Jupiter grabbed Titus's arm with her other hand and yanked herself free, moving as quickly as her gown would allow to Caine's side. "Are you all right? Where are the others?"

"Jupiter--" Titus began from behind her.

Caine turned a glare on the prince and growled, lips lifting.

Titus instantly corrected. "Your Majesty, this is a touching reunion, but we do have business to conduct."

Lip still lifted, Caine stepped between Jupiter and Titus.

Meanwhile, Jupiter was still distracted by the wolf before her. She knew that Caine was in there, that for werewolves this was simply another form. Even so, she couldn't quite help herself. She reached out and stroked along Caine's side, at the spot where black fur turned to gray. His coat was stiff under her hands, meant to protect from weather and the teeth of other monsters.

Caine jolted beneath her hand and swung his head around to look at her, growling stopped and eyes wide.

"Sorry," she whispered. "You're beautiful like this. Handsome. Handsome, yes."

She felt a soft brush on her arm. His tail gave a slow wag. Jupiter smiled.

"Your Majesty, please?" Titus's voice sounded strained. Jupiter looked up at him with narrowed eyes. He'd had no reason to lie to her about Prince Balem's plans . . . but maybe he'd had good reasons to lie about his own.

In one liquid moment, the black and gray wolf shifted, lifting upward and Changing back into the Caine she knew. Jupiter rose with him.

"Your Majesty, Prince Titus is lying to you. He plans to be rid of you as soon as you're married. As the queen's husband, he would have a more legitimate claim to the throne than his siblings."

Shaken, Jupiter stepped up next to Caine and looked Prince Titus in the eye. "Was everything a lie?"

He shook his head, a pleading expression on his face. "No, no! Balem's plans are real, and so is his zeal to carry them out. You don't stand a chance against him on your own, he has allies in this court and others, he will destroy you. Let me help, let me add my allies to yours." He said the last with a pointed look at Caine.

"I wouldn't, Your Majesty."

Captain Tsing and the other Aegis soldiers--who Jupiter suddenly realized owed allegiance only to the crown, and therefore her--strode into the great hall thorugh the door Caine had wrecked on his way in. Three of her guards were holding Titus's satyr ally manacled between them.

"We found her in your wedding chambers, with more of her magic sleeping dust." Captain Tsing held up a drawstring bag with runes along the sides.

Jupiter stood between Titus and the crowd below, all the people who'd cheered when the crown touched her head, all the people who now looked to her for a just and merciful reign. Captain Tsing and the Aegis Corps, Princess Kalique who sent her on her way, even her mother and family back at the manor. They all depended on her to make the right choice.

Facing the abrupt change from scullery maid to queen shook Jupiter to her core. Lives depended on her. She desperately wanted someone to take the reins, to show her the way. She'd seen an escape in Titus, or at least a reprieve while she learned which fork to use and how to address an ambassador. But the satyr in their bedroom . . . no. She'd spent time on the road with the Aegis Corps captain, and she trusted her. Titus might not want Balem to destroy two kingdoms for his own power, but she doubted he wanted to guide her and help her rule, either.

Stepping away from all of them, Jupiter kicked the train of her dress out behind her, standing tall under the heavy crown.

"Titus Abrasax." Jupiter called his name, so it echoed off the walls. The murmuring crowd hushed.

"Really, Jupiter, is that--"

With another of those chilling growls (that sent tingles up her spine for _an entirely different reason_ ), Caine turned on Titus and yanked his hands behind his back. Titus shouted in protest as Caine shoved him toward Jupiter.

"I think," Jupiter said, meeting her would-be murderer's eyes, "that plotting to kill the queen is treason."

"Yes it is, Your Majesty," Captain Tsing confirmed, a low note of pride in her voice.

"Therefore!" (Inside, Jupiter laughed at herself. Whoever thought she'd ever actually use the word 'therefore'?) "Though you plotted to kill your queen, you were once a prince of this kingdom."

"Were once?!" Titus demanded, trying to shake Caine off. Caine merely tightened his grip.

"And in recognition of your great mother, you will not be executed."

Caine's lip lifted in silent displeasure.

"Titus, I strip you of all titles, all land, all holdings, and all property, and will never use the name Abrasax again. You shall pay three-quarters of your remaining wealth to the crown, for the use of road improvement."

Surprisingly, the crowd cheered at this. If all the roads were a bumpy as the one Jupiter experience on the way to Kalique's palace, she didn't blame them.

"You and your associate are banished from Kingdom Abrasax forevermore. You will not contact or attempt to coerce any citizen of Kingdom Abrasax from exile. You will be given enough rations to reach the border."

Titus stared at her, eyes wide, perfect hair undone. His mouth hung open.

Jupiter crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows. "I hear Orus is nice this time of year. Better hope you make the mountains before the snow."

At this provocation, Titus could restrain himself no longer. He shouted and threw himself at Jupiter, straining against Caine's unbreakable hold. At that point, Captain Tsing took charge, appointing three of her soldiers to arrest Titus and haul him and the satyr down to the dungeons. To a cell without a broken door.

While the crowd noise grew, conversations breaking out over all the drama, Jupiter looked to Caine. The werewolf stepped up close.

"Still my bodyguard?" she asked. "Might be a hard job. We still don't know where Prince Balem went."

"I would trust no one else."

Jupiter swallowed, and then asked what she'd been wishing she asked way back on the road. "Any interest in being more?"

Caine bowed his head. Jupiter held her breath.

The he looked up at her, a small, content smile on his face. "I am yours."

 

One Year Later:

 

"Sure you won't marry me and be my king?"

Caine shook his head, as he did every time this came up. He cupped Jupiter's face in his warm hand and touched their foreheads together. "That you will carry our children, and one of them shall be marked to rule, will be enough. I could never care about a kingdom. My heart is devoted to you."

Jupiter sighed, then leaned in and kissed Caine. His magnificent wings unfolded from his back, encircling them in their own small world.

After one peaceful moment, they straightened, fixing each other's clothes with little touches. Then Jupiter held her head high, silver crown glinting on her brow, and strode out to keep her kingdom. Caine followed, watching her back, as he always would.


End file.
